This week saw wine news headlines full of news that global wine production had fallen back to 1961 levels, primarily due to poor growing seasons across Europe and Australasia.
However, judging by the relative glee with which several French news reports took the news that France had returned to the top of the pile in Europe (to the detriment of Italy, which experienced a more challenging 2023 vintage), there was a silver lining for some.
| Related stories: |
| Tony Parker Buys Château in the Rhône |
| Mildew Threat for Bordeaux |
| Languedoc to Bid Adieu to Appellations? |
Meanwhile, here are some of the news stories you might have missed this week:
Tony Parker calls for investors
Franco-American basketball start Tony Parker is looking for investors in his southern Rhône wine estate, Château Saint Laurent, it emerged this week. The 41 year-old star, who bought the property a year ago (see Tony Parker buys Château in Rhône) is reportedly looking for investors with a minimum buy-in of €30 ($32), all through crowdfunding website, Bricks.
"Of [the crowdfunders], 300 individual investors will be invited to an exclusive event organized by Parker, where they will have the chance to get a private tour of the château," said local news website Made in Marseille. "They will get a behind-the-scenes tour of the wine estate, a tasting of the wines made there, and a special meeting with the star, who will share his love for basketball and wine."
"This château represents much more than a real estate investment," said Parker at the Bricks launch. "It is a part of my story that I want to share. It [...] is a way of thanking my fans and opening the doors to a world that is close to my heart."
Winemaker takes on gray market
A winemaker in the Loire has slammed what he calls a "gray market" after finding bottles of his wines in a French supermarket boasting prices that undercut those of the wine merchants with whom he works.
Sébastien David, a high-profile, no additions organic and biodynamic winemaker in Saint-Nicolas de Bourgueil, recently filmed himself on TikTok after buying back his wines from a branch of the major French supermarket chain Leclerc in Tours.
The winemaker had gone to the supermarket after retailers – some of which he has worked with for over 20 years – phoned him up to complain that the supermarket was undercutting their prices. David, who confirmed that he does not sell his wines to supermarkets on principal, believes the wines (which are not current release) had been sold to Leclerc by an unknown merchant.
This was confirmed by regional newspaper Nouvelle République which on Friday quoted David as saying he had found three re-sellers.
"I won't be able to keep working with those people," the winegrower told the publication.
David told Nouvelle République that several of the disgruntled wine merchants with whom he does work have told him they won't keep selling his wines. He said this represents a potential loss of around €50,000 ($53,000) to his bottom line.
"I am losing part of my distribution network with which I have been working for twenty-five years [all because of] people who have nothing to do with the winegrower," he said.
Others are more sanguine about the practice.
"For twenty years [the supermarkets] have been using our wines as flagship products," Benoît Amirault, of Domaine Yannick Amirault – another top domaine in Saint-Nicolas-de-Bourgueil told Nouvelle République. "I've stopped worrying about all that, At first, we got angry and then we were happy to be considered as touchstones for an appellation. Otherwise, it’s up to us to be more careful about who we sell our wines to."
Although in his video David put a call out to France's national anti-fraud brigade, the DGCCRF, it appears there is little the winemaker can do in this instance.
French mildew rescue fund extended
A communal pot of €20 million ($21 million) in funds allocated by the French government to go to winegrowers hit by mildew in 2023 (see Mildew Threat for Bordeaux and Bordeaux Hit by Second Bout of Mildew) has been extended to cover all winegrowers "facing cash flow difficulties", the French Ministry of Agriculture announced on Friday.
According to French news agency AFP, the financial aid had initially been earmarked for growers, particularly in Bordeaux and South West France, hit by mildew in this year's growing season. The move had been tabled by Jean-René Cazeneuve, a deputy for the Gers region in France's National Assembly with particular budgetary oversight.
However, the Ministry of Agriculture announced this week that the aid had been extended and, instead of covering "winegrowers with the highest cash flow difficulties following the mildew episode", the financial aid will be made available to "winegrowers with the highest cash flow difficulties, particularly in the southwest".
The alteration would therefore also cover growers hit by drought or poor sales, said the press agency. It is understood the criteria for receiving the government aid will be published in the next few weeks.
Jérôme Despey, president of the wine branch of FranceAgriMer (a public entity which implements aid programs for agriculture and fisheries), confirmed that the expanded scope of the aid was due to the group's recommendations.
“I very firmly asked the minister that if there was an aid program, that it should be extended to cover those in economic difficulty across all winegrowing regions," he said.
Bergerac pushes for subregional denominations
The southwest France region of Bergerac, which neighbors Bordeaux to the east, is set to push for more subregional designations on its labels – and perhaps even the establishment of a number of "crus" (named top vineyard areas).
According to regional newspaper Sud-Ouest, the region – which is often overshadowed by its headline-grabbing neighbor – will press for the adoption of a number of so-called "complementary geographical denominations" – additional subregional designations which can be appended to the "Bergerac" title on the wine label.
For instance, the Sud-Ouest report focused on the most likely candidate for the honor: Issigeac, at the very southwestern end of the region. If this area was to be adopted as a complementary geographical denomination to the Bergarac title, this would gave eligible wines the option of having "Bergerac-Issigeac" as their appellation title.
This amendment could, according to Sud-Ouest, potentially appear on bottles of the 2024 vintage with, eventually, the potential for Issigeac to breakaway as a title on its own – a so-called "cru" – by 2028. The newspaper added that four such titles were in the offing.
Issigeac is not the only region potentially being added as a complementary geographical denominations of Bergerac.
"Three others are on the radar: a sector around Eymet [at the southern end of the region]; the terroir of sweet wines, between Saussignac and Monbazillac, whose whites and reds are a little eclipsed; and finally the 'Dordogne Terraces', on the north and south banks [of the river], around Lamonzie-Saint-Martin and Prigonrieux [immediately west of Bergerac town]."
It is not known officially at what stage of the process the move towards the adoption of the complementary geographical denominations is at although Sud-Ouest claims a number of domaines are bringing the case to France's national appellations body, the INAO.
